A transfer takes place when a consumer moves an existing service from one telecommunications provider to another.
Complaints we commonly receive about transferring a service include claims that:
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Residential consumers and small businesses made 132,387 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, highlighted in the Annual Report 2018-19 published today (25 September 2019).
However, complaints returning as unresolved - where the consumer and provider could not reach resolution - took longer to close. This year, 47 per cent of escalated complaints were closed within 60 days, compared to 2017-18 when this figure was 77 per cent.
New research undertaken by my office and Community Legal Centres Queensland shows that almost half of community legal workers in that state are seeing clients burdened by phone and internet issues every week. And a further 20 per cent hear about phone and internet issues every two to four weeks.
New complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in October-December 2015 were at the lowest level since July-September 2006, according to TIO statistics released today.
The TIO received 23,572 new complaints in the quarter, down 9.4 per cent compared to the previous period, and 20.3 per cent fewer than the same time in 2014.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) and Exetel Pty Ltd have reached an agreement following mediation in proceedings brought by the service provider against the alternative dispute resolution scheme, the TIO announced today.
The proceedings related to 114 complaints about the service provider logged with the TIO by consumers. The service provider had sought compensation claiming the cases were misclassified by the TIO.
The matter was settled with no payments made by the TIO.
The research, produced via a partnership between the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) and the TIO unearthed a suite of sobering assessments in relation to the vulnerability of the consumer market in the telecommunications industry.
The CPRC research revealed that 55 percent of Australians have experienced at least one problem with their telco in the last year – but of the quantum, 77 percent of customers chose not to make a complaint due to a sense that the process would be overwhelming.
Residential consumers and small businesses made 167,831 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in the last financial year (1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018).
Complaints about phone and internet services increased by 6.2 per cent for the full year, however, complaints dropped by 17.8 per cent in the final quarter (April to June 2018) compared to quarter three (January to March 2018).
The Telco Accessibility Task Force has been established to remove the barriers to effective dispute resolution in the telecommunications industry and improve the industry’s ability to address consumer issues.
Chaired by the Ombudsman, the Task Force meets virtually at least twice a year and brings together key representatives from consumer and community groups and representatives from the telecommunications industry.
The group consists of up to 20 members representing a diverse range of perspectives, minority groups and special interests, including but not limited to:
The result for all participating providers, 6.5 complaints per 10,000 services in Operation (SIO), has decreased 9.7 per cent when compared to January-March 2015 (7.2) and 14.5 per cent when compared to April to June 2014 (7.6).
These results reflect the overall decrease in TIO new complaints, which reduced by 10.5 per cent during 2014-15. This is the lowest level of new complaints since 2007-08.